Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1887-01-14
BEHIND THE COUNTER.

BEHIND The COUNTER.
"My first day at the storey said Car
ry Waliingford, with curious thrill
through her, as if au ice cold stream
were trickling down the line Of her spi-
nal column. "OA, wish were a rich
girl, and didn't have to work."
Work is honorable, my child, said
old Uncle Wolsey, who, with hi, spee.o-
eles en- his nose was trying to spel
through the illcgble paragraphs of the
daily paper muttering to himself tha
'either they didn't print as good as they
used to, or else his old eycsight was fail
ing"
yes, know, futtcred Carry; 'but
but Pm very willing that someone else
should have the honor this time"
Uncle Wolsey turned his glasses with
mild reproach upon his niece's pink and
white balsam of face
II wish | could be as brave as you,
Uncle Wolsey" sad Carry as she tied
the crimson strings Of her little capote
under her round chin.
Old Wolscy WaIliDgford had sheltered
his little pet lamb by his hearth-fold all
her lifetime until now. He was a jewel
er by trade, and he had kept his unpre-
tending store open as long as possible
But the tide of fashion went by and left
him stranded on the unfrcquented side
street, where the sign Of the tarnished
silver watch attracted no further atten-
lion.
And one day, when he had set all day
IN the window with his magnifying- glass
working at some impossible ol time
piece, whose owner had died and never
called for it, the twilight crept darkly
over his eyesight and his heart
He laid down his tools.
"AIl day long" said he, "and never a
customer! Well-a-day it is time for the
DID man to shut up his store at last"
lie went out and put up the woode-.
shutters, with heart that was heavier
than they, and from that time thence
forward the wooden imitation Of the sill
yer watch swung no longer over the door.
Uncle Wolsey had been conquered in
lies battle, and had laid down his arms,
and now it was that Garry reluctantly
threw herself into the breach.
How could she let the dear old man
'tarve2 And Mr.. Pickrelps fancy and
Try goods store on Sixth avenue was
eally a very creditable establishment,
and Mrs. Pickrell herself had promised,
from the severe heights of the cashiers
1esk, to keep an eye" upon old Mr.
Walllngford's niece, and if her services
?roved desirable, there was no sort o
doubt but that her salary would be in
creased in time.
So Garry buttoned up her sack, drew
on her neat lis!e-thread gloves and took
the little basket, in which, wrapped in a
napkin, was packed her lunch of apple
pie and cheese, and went forth to meet
aer new career, little reckoning how
brief it was to be.
At first it was not very pleasant. The
store was small and stuffy, with gorgeous
piles of cretonne and chintz at the door,
and festoons of laces, silk handkerehiefs
and colored jerseys tapping against the
heads of the girls behind the counter, Of
whom there were three besides Garry
bold, high voiced damsels, who wore
heir hair down over the bridge of their
aoses and giggled incessantly.
Customers came and went, change was
made and paper parcels cxpeditiousiy
wrapped up.
Mr. Pickrell walked the floor with his
hands in his pockets, ordered away
small girls whose noses were fattened
too persistently against the windows out
side, and smiled beamingly on old ladies
who stopped to examine the quality Of
the chintzes and flannel suitings.
Mrs. Pickrell reprimanded the young
women with the banged hair for giggling
too loud when there were customers in
the store, and called to Garry to 'mind
what she was about when box of rib
bons fell off the counter upon the floor.
Carry grew very weary, her head began
to ache, and she wondered how long it
would be before ''shutting-up time"
At last tall, brown-faced young man
came in, wearing foreign-looking coat
trimmed with fur, and somehow bearing
IN his aspect the indescribable stamp Of
belonging to some other country.
One of the banged haired nymphs was
eating her lunch; the second rad rushed
up the street to get change for a ten dol
lar bill; and the third was engaged in
an impossible shade of ribbon
for young lady who was determined
not to be pleased with anything.
"Carry!n shrilIy signaled Mrs. Pick